Mon Carnet de Voyage

(Entry to the office on Monday morning).

I awoke to snow yesterday morning. With only six weeks until summer, the Parisians tell me this is not normal. However, I should think our default for normal weather has moved somewhat on the ‘what to expect’ meter, in these days of climate change. I don’t think it’s a case of ‘it is going to happen’, it is happening…

Sunday, I embarked on a long walk across the city. I strolled to the Marché Bastille, the largest and truest of all Parisian markets, and it certainly lived up to expectation. Letting my nose guide me, I weaved my way though mountains of fresh bread, fruit, legumes, flowers…and lots of perfectly Parisian dishes and delicacies for the lazy cook.


Onward and north towards the Pompidou Centre (my museum of choice for this month’s free Sunday for national museums). However I was stopped in my tracks by about 35,000 people running in the Paris Marathon. Clearly, by the looks of the results, not something particularly easy for a Parisian to win:

Top 5, Paris Marathon 2008, men
1. Tsegaye Kebede, Ethiopia, 2:06:40
2. Moses Arusei, Kenya, 2:06:50
3. Hosea Rotich, Kenya, 2:07:24
4. Gudisa Shentema, Ethiopia, 2:07:34
5. David Kemboi, Kenya, 2:08:34

Top 5, Paris Marahton 2008, women
1. Martha Komu, Kenya, 2:25:33
2. Worknech Tola, Ethiopia, 2:25:37
3. Lenah Cheruiyot, Kenya, 2:26:00
4. Shitaye Gemeshu, Ethiopia, 2:26:10
5. Alice Timbilili, Kenya, 2:26:45

One entertaining part of watching the marathon was trying to cross the road (after all, I was trying to get to the Pompidou Centre as early as possible to avoid the queue) which I eventually did by joining in to the marathon for fifty metres, much to the hilarity of the runners around me who laughed and called after me “allez allez allez” (the equivalent of 'aussie aussie aussie!'). More entertaining though, was watching the handing out of bananas as sustenance to the runners. No comic scene ensued, given that 35,000 people then had to run through 35,000 banana skins (except for the Kenyans), but it was fun to watch in anticipation.


Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou Centre

The Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou (which contains the National Museum of Modern Art on it's upper two levels) is considered the most successful cultural centre in the world, and is the second most visited museum in the world, attracting 5.3 million visitors per year. Housing works by Kandinsky, Picasso, Matisse, Pollock, and more, it showcases the most important movements in art of the twentieth century.


The works that did actually make me think were the multimedia artworks, including a room where an artist (at death’s door) had tried to capture the story of his life, through polaroids, notes, maps, postcards and items that reflected back to him, his self-perceived life story. Another, was a photograph of a giant apartment building in an undisclosed third world country, with the names of every tenant listed below.

The view of Paris, though, was probably the best bit, when standing on the top floor of the Pompidou Centre.

Musée national de la Marine

On Saturday, I visited the Musée national de la Marine (National Maritime Museum). Always a geek for maritime history (and French maritime history at that), I sought to visit the Lapérouse exhibition (Le mystère Lapérouse: enquête dans le Pacifique sud).

Lapérouse was a French explorer who set off from France in 1785 seeking to undertake all of Cook’s three voyages in just one. It was intended to be the largest scientific expedition of all time for France, and was ordered by Louis XVI (see previous blog titled: Millefeuille of History).

Lapérouse, and both of his ships, the Boussole, and the Astrolabe, went missing in 1788, shortly after leaving the English settlement at Botany Bay, Australia. This caused some conflict between the French and the English, as the French always suspected foul play. Bruni D’Entrecasteaux was sent out in 1791 to find the ships, and at the same time, to conduct another scientific voyage in Australia.
The mystery was not solved for 39 years, until Irishman, Peter Dillon, found the shipwreck of the Boussole in 1826, near Vanikoro, in the Santa Cruz Islands. It was the same place where D’Entrecasteaux had seen smoke signals in 1793, but had been unable to approach due to dangerous reefs (he himself then died two months later). Had Lapérouse and his men been the ones who made the smoke signals, five years after their shipwreck?

According to local natives, there had been survivors. They had resurrected a two-masted boat from the wreckage of the Astrolabe, and sailed west 9 months after their shipwreck, and were never seen since. Two men apparently remained behind and survived until 1823 (that’s 35 years), just three years before Dillon arrived. It’s a William Buckley / Burke and Wills tale on the high seas…

I learned that Lapérouse was chosen for his humane qualities as it was the King’s intention to treat natives well in Australia (as was the French ambition on all of their scientific voyages), and that both ships were made to be as identical as possible, so that one would not sail faster than the other. The highlight of the exhibition however, was seeing all of the rescued objects from the Boussole, perfectly preserved plates and canons, and an almost complete skeleton…
(Canons rescued from the Boussole).

On a similar note this month, it was interesting to see the pictures of the HMAS Sydney (found last year off the coast of Geraldton, WA), come to light. Another of our maritime mysteries solved…